Lewis back on gold track

Denise Lewis's coach hailed her performance in Tallinn, Estonia, yesterday as " remarkable" after the Olympic heptathlon champion achieved the first target on her return to the sport by qualifying for next month's World Championships in Paris.

Almost three years after her gold medal success in Sydney, Lewis easily bettered the 6,105 points qualifying standard required to line-up on the Stade de France track in six weeks' time. Her total of 6,282 points when finishing second to last year's European champion Carolina Kluft was impressive after such a long absence from competition.

But Lewis is shrewd enough to realise that the 6,692 points put together by the Swedish winner of the Spar European Cup of Combined Events is a true reflection of the current gap existing between them.

With Eunice Barber also bouncing back to top form - the French 1999 world champion is also assured of massive support in Paris - the opposition there is going to be awesome.

Lewis - currently under fire for her association with discredited former East German coach Ekkart Arbeit - is well aware of this. Indeed, according to coach Frank Dick, the World Championships are purely a stepping stone to defending her Olympic title next year.

"We've always said that is the major target," said Dick, who took over the coaching reins with Lewis last November when she got the itch for another Olympic victory. One of the world's leading coaches, Dick still believes Lewis needs more time before again reaching her peak.

Dick said: "She's only had a handful of individual competitions since the birth of her daughter last year. Having said that, I think the score she pulled together was remarkable.

"Denise knows what it takes to be an Olympic champion and in the last three events we saw her fighting like one to make sure she got into the British team next month."

Certainly, there was plenty to shout about in Lewis's performances yesterday as she led the British side of Kelly Sotherton, Julie Hollman and Claire Brewington to promotion back to the Super League.

The two-time world silvermedallist's throwing performances were the backbone of her display, showing she still has massive strength despite her long absence.

Now Dick is determined to help Lewis regain her speed for the 200 metres and 100m hurdles which were well below par on the opening day in Tallinn.

The Scot also believes he can improve Lewis from a 1.75m high jumper at her best by at least 10 centimetres. "That's one event we haven't really worked hard upon yet," said Dick.

Lewis, who started the second day with a score of 3,658 points, produced excellent long jump and javelin-throwing performances of 6.33m and 49.57m respectively.

However, Lewis admitted to feeling vulnerable after initially struggling in the long jump before pulling herself out of trouble with her final attempt.

She said: "I found myself under immense pressure after two very poor long jumps."

Meanwhile, the final event over 800m was a formality for Lewis as she covered the distance in 2mins 34.10secs.